Bittersweet
by Evaworld
Summary: Joy and Sadness are a rather unlikely pair. They have been through an awful lot together and they grow closer with each memory they create, whether it was good or bad. A Joy/Sadness drabble fic. Some drabbles can be seen as platonic, some are romantic. Don't like, don't read.
1. Her Laugh

**AN: So, I saw Inside Out a while ago and I'm really surprised of the lack of Joy/Sadness because they are super adorable and I can't take it. So, this is going to be a collection of Joyness drabbles, if you don't like it, don't read it. I will just post oneshots here when I have the motivation to write so I don't know how often I will update these. Spoiler warnings for anyone who hasn't seen the movie (I think this one will be okay but in future drabbles, there will definitely be spoilers.)**

 **Drabble #1 (Her Laugh):**

In all of the years Joy has known Sadness, it is astonishing to say that she had never heard her laugh before. Sure, she had seen her grin from time to time, but there was never a laugh. In the past, she remembered trying to make the blue emotion laugh just once. Her attempts never worked. She did knock-knock jokes, silly faces, puns, and just about everything Joy thought was funny. In the end, the only one laughing was herself, Joy was laughing at her own jokes while she didn't even get a noticeable reaction out of Sadness. She tried everything but she could never get a laugh out of her or even a smile. The yellow emotion didn't understand, Joy made everyone else in headquarters laugh (even Anger at one point).

One day, while Sadness was away, she asked her other coworkers if they ever heard Sadness giggle before. "Of course not. Have you met her, Joy? She's never in a good mood." Disgust stated the obvious. Joy knew that it couldn't be true. Sadness never "appears" to be in a good mood but she's not always down in the dumps, or at least that's what Joy tells herself. Sadness can't be miserable and pessimistic _all of the time_ , right? No one is.

"Are you sure? I mean, I've known her for eleven years and I had never heard her laugh before. It feels strange, don't you think?" Joy retorted.

"You knew her longer than us, Joy. How would we know?" Questioned the red emotion, rather defensively. "Well I…" Joy's words faded when she glanced and saw Sadness return to her usual spot in headquarters. Joy ended the conversation but she silently vowed herself that eventually, she will make Sadness laugh. Just one laugh is all that she wants from her, even if Sadness is too...well… sad to have Joy's sense of humor.

Due to their adventures trying to get back to headquarters, Joy grew closer to Sadness and felt guilty that she didn't understand her. She felt bad that she wasn't her friend and that she pushed the blue emotion aside. She, along with her coworkers, apologized for their misunderstandment and their previous actions around Sadness. Sadness forgave them all and forgot about the past experiences, but Joy could never seem to forgive herself. Due to her guilt, Joy started to act kinder around Sadness. Since they were closer, Joy had more motivation to make her laugh once more, despite Sadness's rather apathetic appearance whenever Joy said a "bad" joke (Come on, _everyone_ laughed at those knock-knock jokes). Each morning had the same schedule. Joy would wake her coworkers up in the most annoyingly positive way (that is, if she had dream duty the night before). Fear was the first one to arrive in his usual place and Sadness, due her sluggish ways, was the last one. Joy, one by one, would tell everyone good morning as they arrived in headquarters. Sadness would slightly grin as her way of saying "good morning". And then Joy would tell Sadness a joke, Sadness would never laugh but if it was a good day she would give out another smile, bigger than the earlier one. Joy was making progress, due to their new friendship, it was easier seeing Sadness with a smile on her face. Joy had hope.

Trying to get Sadness to laugh is easy! She just has to think of something funny enough to relate to Sadness's sense of humor (or lack of). All day, Joy tried to think up an idea. Okay, obviously her jokes (even the good ones) didn't help at all, as proven countless times before. Hmm…puns didn't work _at all,_ it probably made things worse because Joy's puns actually make Sadness cringe. What could Sadness, an embodiment of sad feelings, possibly laugh about? Wait a minute! In that moment, it just hit her. Joy had an idea of a possible solution to her almost seemly never-ending problem.

It was the end of the day, and Joy had dream duty, but everyone else was walking away to get some well deserved rest for tomorrow. Quickly before Sadness left headquarters, Joy called out, "Oh wait, Sadness? Come here for sec."

Sadness, confused but curious about what her friend could want, walked up to her. It was amazing to think how small she was when compared to Joy. Joy smiled at her and got to her level by sitting on her two knees. Sadness was extremely confused but then uproars of unexpected laughter escaped her lungs before she could even process what was going on. Joy was tickling her sides. Finally, after eleven years, the answer to her question was apparent. Sadness can laugh! Of course, she kind of had to force it out of her but at least she knows what she sounds like when she's laughing. "J-J-Joy Wha-What are you d-doing?" Sadness asked in between her laughs and fell over right next to Joy's lap, still in a giggle fit. It felt…abnormal but it was adorable seeing the blue emotion like this. Joy's smile widened. She never heard her laugh, it was cute and light even when she was being tickled and hearing it herself made Joy delighted. After a few more seconds, Joy stopped her actions; after all, she didn't want to torture her friend. Sadness tried to catch her breath, still on the ground, and she gave Joy the most bewildered expression, the smile was off of her face.

The other emotions stopped what they were doing once they heard Sadness's laughter. It felt rather unnatural to hear the blue emotion laugh. They couldn't believe it, Joy finally did it. "Uh…Joy. What was that for?" Sadness asked, her solemn tone of voice was back once again. Joy stood up and grabbed Sadness's hand, helping her rise up to her feet. Joy smiled, "I just wanted to hear you laugh, Sadness." Sadness looked almost surprised and then avoided eye contact with Joy, "Oh. Uh…can you um, not tickle me again though?"

"Aw, I like your laugh though! I think it's cute!" Joy stated truthfully. Sadness honestly hated when people used the word "cute", or any other words that are similar to it, to describe aspects about her. The only exception is when Joy said it, because Joy was honest. Sadness looked away, "Really?"

"Yeah, of course! I think you should laugh more often!" Joy confirmed happily. The taller emotion knew that she can't technically encourage her to laugh more, for the same reasons that she can't make Sadness positive. Sadness was just made that way, to be mostly gloomy and only occasionally happy. However, her words spoke the truth because, in all honesty, she wished she didn't have to force laughter out of the blue emotion.

"Goodnight, Joy," Sadness mumbled.

"Alrighty! Get some rest, Sleepyhead! I'll see you in the morning!" Joy said, always upbeat and positive. Sadness walked away to get some well-deserved rest.

Joy was eventually left alone during dream duty, hoping that wouldn't be the last time she hears Sadness laugh.


	2. Dream Duty

**AN: I'm surprised at the amount of attention this drabble fic is getting. Here's another one! I hope it isn't as boring as I think it is… haha.**

 **Drabble # 2 (Dream Duty):**

Sadness didn't know what to do. She was _literally_ tired of it, that's for sure, and she was frightened for tonight. Joy always knew exactly what to do in situations like these. "Do you want me to keep you company, Sadness?" She asked.

Thursday nights were always rough on Sadness because that was the day she had dream duty. Every other time she had dream duty, she would get yelled at by Anger because she was always sleeping on the job. She would sleep on the job at least seventy-five percent of the time, but she wouldn't get in trouble unless Riley woke up in the middle of the night. She just couldn't stay up for it. The smaller emotion couldn't help it. She even tried bringing her favorite book to read to keep her mind off of rest. Still, that didn't work, she ended up falling asleep on the pages anyway. She's surprised that she even has dream duty anymore, given the fact that she doesn't stay up long enough for it.

Sadness hid her face in her sweater, "I don't know…This is my job and I should be working…I don't want to force you. I mean, you have dream duty all of the time…" She mumbled almost as quiet as a whisper. She was surprised that Joy could hear her. The taller emotion just smiled and she put her hand on the blue emotion's back "Come on, it will be fun!" Sadness couldn't say no to Joy. After all, if she had some company and another voice talking to her, maybe she will actually be awake this time around.

"Ok. If you want to…" Sadness accepted her offer. Joy's smile grew and she sat right next to her smaller friend. "Alright. What do we have today?" She asked rhetorically, talking about the dream that Riley was going to have.

The screen lit up and a dream started. The dream producers didn't do too well this time, the dream's plot was scattered all over the place, and Sadness quickly lost interest. Sadness partially paid attention to it, while Joy was immersed in the dream to a point where she was uncharacteristically silent. In fact, it was hard for Sadness to think that she was still there. If it wasn't for the yellow glow that surrounded Joy's form, she would have thought she was alone. Sadness wanted to bring out one of her favorite novels but she didn't know if that would be disrespectful. Joy is staying up for her, and staying up to make sure Sadness doesn't sleep when she should be doing her _own_ job.

"It's weird that Riley is already having dreams about boys. Riley… Don't you know that boys are overrated?" Joy talked to herself quietly, she laughed. She broke the silence, making Sadness pay attention to her. Sadness looked over her shoulder. She glanced at the yellow emotion that seemed to always have a smile on her face. She noticed the details in her eyes, her face and her hair. Somehow, it triggered a feeling that she couldn't describe. Sadness unconsciously smiled. This happened an awful lot. The feeling kept returning ever since the two became friends. It was a weird feeling. Her chest would feel tight and her hands would get clammy (that sounded gross, never mind). The point is that it felt like her insides were dying but it didn't feel painful, it felt…good?

Joy eventually noticed Sadness gawking at her and the smaller emotion felt sudden embarrassment. Her cheeks burned like they were hit with frying pan and she suddenly looked away. "Oh. Sorry…that was a little weird wasn't it?" Sadness mumbled, looking at the ground. Joy offered a small smile. "Sadness…" the yellow emotion sighed, "Can I say something?"

"Yeah?" Sadness looked up from the ground to look back up at Joy's face.

"I'm sorry for treating you like I have for all of those years. I just thought that Riley only needed me to be happy, but she needed you too. I…should have listened to you." Joy apologized sincerely.

"It's okay…You already apologized a while ago." Sadness muttered. She hated it when she brought up the past, Sadness would rather forget all of the treatment she had been though. She forgave Joy a couple of months ago, she just wished Joy stopped bringing it up. "I know," was all Joy offered to say. She paused before putting her attention back on Riley's dream.

The dream still wasn't over; it just dragged on, and on. Eventually, Sadness stifled in a yawn. She was already drowsy and felt her eyelids grow heavier with each minute that passed. "Already tired, huh?" Joy looked back at the smaller blue emotion.

"Yeah…Sorry. I don't know why I'm so tired all of the sudden." She yawned once again, longer than the other one. She sniffled and took off her glasses to rub her dozy eyes. Joy suddenly felt like she needed to help her out. "Well, you can sleep if you need to, Sadness. I can take over if you want me to."

"No… No, I should be doing my job, Joy. I can stay up…I just…" Sadness whined. She already felt guilty that Joy was keeping her company and she still felt tired. Joy was already helping her; she didn't need her to do her own assigned job.

"No, get some rest, Sadness. I'll take over tonight, alright?" Joy no longer offered but rather told Sadness that she was going to help her. She smiled and the other emotion just grunted in response. Joy slowly put an arm around Sadness, and took her glasses off, careful not to touch and dirty the lenses. She then allowed Sadness to sleep on her shoulder. Sadness felt her cheeks burning again. Okay, she isn't going to deny it any longer. It was _painfully_ obvious that Sadness had a crush on Joy. In fact, she would have told her in that moment but she felt like Joy would never feel the same. Sadness wasn't like the other emotions in HQ. She was the polar opposite of Joy. So, she didn't tell her this time. Sadness just stayed quiet and tried to put her focus on sleeping and less on the fact that Joy was literally right beside her. And she fell asleep in minutes.

After about a half hour, the dream was over, and dream duty shift was done for the night. It was Joy's turn to yawn this time. She looked at her friend, who was fast asleep without a care in the world. Joy smiled to herself at the sight. She ran her fingers in Sadness's hair and instinctively kissed her forehead.

She's going to wake her up soon to tell her it's time for them to go to their own sleeping quarters but for now, she's just going to enjoy these ten minutes of tranquility.


	3. History

**AN: Thank you for all of your kind reviews, I am glad that all of you are enjoying this story! In order to keep this drabble fic going after my ideas get dry, I am going to write drabbles based on ideas that you guys gave me! If more of you guys have any more great Joyness suggestions, feel free to contact me (by reviewing this fic or sending me a PM) and I'll consider writing it once I'm out of ideas.**

 **I hope you like this one, I feel like I'm rambling because this is a writer's block drabble and I just wrote anything that came to mind. I'll write a better (and longer) one tomorrow for you guys!**

 **Drabble #3 (History)**

It's ridiculous to think that they both hated each other's guts just a few months ago. Well, maybe "hating each other's guts" was a vast overstatement. There were some pleasant conversations exchanged with one another, those times were rare, but they did happen. Sometimes, Sadness even smiled with Joy whenever the yellow emotion got overly excited. However, Joy was the one who mostly argued with Sadness and took her farther away from the console with all sorts of precautions. They could stand to be in the same room together, it hardly ever interfered with work, except for that…one incident where Riley was about to run away. The point is, they weren't friends. They were coworkers, acquaintances that didn't see eye to eye.

Joy and Sadness both equally disliked one another for multiple reasons back in the day. Well, for one thing, they were completely polar opposites. One of the other larger reasons why they didn't get along was the fact that no one enjoyed to see Riley cry. That was Sadness's job. So, Sadness was seen as this bad thing that made Riley cry and feel bad for no reason whatsoever. Joy was positive. Joy made Riley happy and if she ever made her cry, it was out of pure happiness. Because of this, Joy kept Sadness as far away from the console as she could.

The relationship between one another was difficult to deal with. There were a couple of times where arguments started, only when Sadness was pushed to the absolute brink. The arguments didn't last long anyway; Sadness could be silenced quickly due to her own nature. Joy could count at least five times in the past where she made Sadness cry, directly or indirectly. Disgust usually came to the blue emotion's defense whenever that happened. "Ugh, what a jerk," she would say as she held on to Sadness. Joy would always apologize but that never worked. She was never good at cheering up Sadness anyway.

Sadness didn't inherently dislike Joy. It was hard for her to dislike somebody. She just hated how Joy made her feel. She already felt terrible by default because her job was to make Riley shed tears. It was upsetting enough to hear Riley's sobs, but it was more upsetting when Sadness saw an opportunity for her to take over the console but Joy didn't let her. A couple of times, Joy let her drive when she deemed it necessary but for the most part, Sadness was tossed aside. At least from her past experiences, Sadness was the one the emotions would go to when they had questions about the processes in HQ. She knew about everything from abstract thought to long term memory. All because she had read those manuals multiple times when she was casted out by Joy.

However, that one time where Sadness was put on the console changed everything. It changed her career and her relationship with her coworkers. On that day, Sadness never felt so happy.

When they both finally arrived back at Headquarters, Joy instructed Sadness to help Riley. The other emotions were obviously very confused by this, they mostly had negative reactions to this. They thought Sadness would be the last option to help out Riley. Sadness doubted herself; she couldn't possibly make Riley feel better. "Riley needs you," Joy told her. Joy was honest (not to a point where she was blunt and direct like Disgust) but if Joy told you something, she meant it to heart. Sadness took a breath. She walked to the console and surprised herself. She brought the idea out of Riley's head. Riley went home and Sadness made her cry to her parents.

Sadness then looked at Joy and grabbed her hand. She made Joy flip a switch on the console and everything was back together.

Joy and Sadness made the first assorted memory together. It was a mixture of blue and yellow, an emotion that could only be described as melancholy. Once it was all set and done, there were a few moments of stunned silence in the HQ. They had to process what just happened. Everything wasn't where it used to be last week but the family island was renewed. Riley was no longer running away. All thanks to Sadness and a bit of Joy. Joy was the one to interrupt the silence and she felt a sudden burst of energy. "We did it!" She danced around, unable to contain her excitement. She was so proud of Sadness and so relieved that everything turned out okay. All of her previous worries subsided. In the bout of sudden energy that Joy had, she lifted up Sadness off the ground and held her tight, surprising her. Due to how proud and delighted she was, without thinking, Joy quickly planted kisses on Sadness's cheeks. Sadness merely smiled in response to the gesture, not being used to all of the attention. A blush was clearly visible on her face.

Eventually, Joy brought the other emotions in for a celebratory group hug. She finally understood Sadness's job and purpose that day. Disgust's job was to keep Riley away from anything unhygienic or socially humiliating. Anger's job was to give Riley the ability to rant and express her frustrations. Fear's job was to keep Riley nice and secure and prevent her from hurting herself or others. Joy's job was to bring Riley happiness, hope and excitement among other things. And Sadness's job was to make Riley cry so she can go to her support system, feel better, and reset.

Sadness was just as important as any other emotion in Headquarters and Joy wished she could have known that sooner. On that day, Joy knew that Riley can't feel joy without a bit of sadness to balance it out.


	4. Comfort

**AN: I know this one's a little late but this drabble idea required a bit of thought. Do the emotions even have bedrooms? I know they sleep but do they have their own little rooms? I don't know I experimented. I hope that isn't a problem. Anyway, I'll start the drabble requests in the next chapter! Thanks for your patience.**

 **Drabble #4 (Comfort):**

It was late; Sadness was the last one to get ready to go to her bedroom. Sadness was getting prepared to sleep for the night and most of the emotions were already in their separate rooms. Sadness was about to walk into her room and she grasped her doorknob—Wait a minute…What was that? Sadness stopped her actions abruptly. Was someone…crying? She just noticed that there was some muffled sobs down in the hallway. Well, Sadness wouldn't be able to sleep knowing that one of her coworkers is crying alone so she followed the source of the noise.

Disgust had dream duty that night, despite her disapproval and resistance, so it couldn't be coming from her room. She listened to Anger's door real fast, being careful not to disturb him, but it wasn't him at all. Fear was at the farthest end of the hallway in the other direction, so that also cancelled him out. She followed the source of the muted sobs. Wait… that can't be right…Is Joy the one who's crying? Sadness tried to be quiet and listened to Joy's door for proof. No…That's not right at all, that can't be. It felt strange thinking that Joy was out there crying alone in her room. She needed all of the help she could get.

Despite being an actual crybaby herself, Sadness hated those rare moments where one of her coworkers cry. Often times, she wanted to weep with them, she wanted to hear them out and listen to their problems and hold on to them tightly. She wanted to comfort them. Sadness was the most empathetic of all the emotions, she was smart in a lot of ways but she knew how to put herself in another person's shoes. It pained her whenever she heard the people she cared about crying. Especially if it's Joy…

"Joy?" She peeped quietly. The moment she said it, the sobs turned really quiet. "Joy, can I come in?" Sadness questioned, her voice filled to the brim with concern. "Yeah, come in" Joy mumbled in between sobs she tried to stop. Joy didn't want her to worry but Sadness could make her feel better. Sadness opened the door.

When she saw normally bubbly and cheerful Joy brought down to sobs, it hurt her like a bullet piercing her chest. Sadness never saw Joy like this before, because it was unlike Joy's nature. It wasn't right for Joy to be weeping out of despair and loss. It wasn't Joy.

Joy's face was covered in one of her hands but it was obvious she was crying on top of her mattress. She shook with light sobs and Sadness slowly walked into the entrance of her room "Joy?" Sadness's mumble was filled with unease. In the hallway, you can vaguely make out the sounds from the dream Riley was having; she closed the door behind her so things can be quiet. The taller emotion looked like she pretended not to notice. Sadness's worry grew. She sluggishly walked over to Joy's mattress and had trouble trying the climb up the bed frame. But it was for Joy, so she tried her hardest. The smaller emotion sat right beside her, but Joy still didn't make eye contact with her, she was still hiccupping with her sobs. She held Joy's free hand in a comforting matter, causing Joy's face to be revealed and make eye contact with another.

It was really heartbreaking to see those blue eyes spewing tears, not out of cheerfulness, but out of discomfort or gloom. Sadness almost cried with her at the sight "Joy, what's wrong?" Sadness questioned, Joy didn't say anything but she immediately held Sadness. She was on her knees, holding Sadness as tight as she could, her sobs increasing in volume and amount. Sadness, slightly startled by her sudden burst, returned the embrace and let Joy bawl her eyes out. "Yeah…Just let it all out." Sadness comforted, rubbing her arm up and down on Joy's back in a soothing matter. It felt strange to see this cheerful emotion shaken with sobs.

Sadness knows what has been bothering Joy recently. One day, out of curiosity, Sadness questioned how Joy was able to escape after her and Bing Bong fallen during their "adventures" to get back to Headquarters. Joy told her the story in a solemn way, it was upsetting and Sadness felt bad that she asked. Joy probably wanted to forget that it happened, because she looked back thinking that Bing Bong was right behind her. It was disheartening when she learned the truth. They lost Bing Bong that day. There was no way of getting him back or Riley remembering him again. There might be some hazy memories, that still might be recalled when Riley gets older but Riley would never play with her imaginary friend again, or even acknowledge his existence.

Joy felt like she shouldn't be upset because she was back in HQ because of him. There was no way they would get back without one of them being left behind. "It's my fault…" Joy mumbled. Sadness was shocked, Joy shouldn't be acting like this, and this wasn't like her at all. "No, Joy. I'm sure it wasn't your fault… He chose to do that for Riley." Sadness mumbled, upset that Joy was beating herself up. Joy continued to shed tears, making the shoulder of Sadness's sweater damp.

"It's sad…But this isn't your fault, Joy." Sadness repeated, and continued to rub Joy's back. The smaller emotion loved Joy an awful lot and it made her stomach ache with each sob that passed. Joy didn't want to talk about it anymore apparently, but she continued to cry. Maybe she just needed to cry it out. Sadness repeated a couple of comforting phrases during this time and she paid extra attention on listening for these few moments. She continued to rub her arm up and down her back slowly to calm her down. Joy eventually buried her face in Sadness neck, causing her to rest her chin on her head.

After about five minutes, her sobs were dying out. Eventually the tears stopped flowing, Joy took a deep breath, and her arms were still wrapped around Sadness's form, still in the same pose. When it felt necessary, she ended the embrace, feeling slightly embarrassed for her outburst. She took another deep breath just for relaxation, rubbed her eyes, and yawned. When she looked back up at Sadness, she managed to grin tiredly. Sadness blushed when she realized how close they were to each other. Sadness could see the small little details in Joy's big blue eyes. They were tired from all of the crying and how late of a night it was. All of a sudden, she realized that she was staring straight into Joy's eyes for a long duration and her cheeks flushed, and she looked away. If Sadness wasn't so terribly shy at the moment, she would have kissed her. She also stopped herself at whatever minor attempt she tried to make because she thought such an action might not be respectful of Joy's feelings.

Joy smiled yet again and looked down before she planted a kiss on Sadness's forehead. Sadness's cheeks flushed brighter and they felt like they burned. "Thanks, Sadness. I feel a lot better now." Joy said, wiping her eyes for the last time, and her smile grew. Sadness smiled with her, happy that she helped out her friend. She was about to walk away and give her some time to rest up, until Joy grabbed her arm. "Wait…Can you stay here?" She pleaded. Sadness happily complied and put the sheets around her. She was so exhausted that the last thing she remembered was Joy wrapping one arm around her in her sleep, causing butterflies in her stomach.

Was it even possible for emotions to get feelings for each other? Was it possible for emotions to get crushes and other romantic things? Because Sadness is sure she's got a big crush for Joy. She wants to tell her so badly.


	5. Envy

**AN: You guys are giving me great ideas to work with! A handful of people requested jealous Sadness. Although, I think it's been a while since we've had a mostly Joy-centric drabble. So, I improvised a bit, I hope that isn't a problem. I'm really sorry for the wait, last week I was away from home and I honestly haven't gotten the motivation to write until today. I also apologize if there are any errors in this one, it's midnight where I live right now and I'm exhausted. I'll write another one sometime this weekend!**

 **Drabble #5 (Envy):**

Today was a hard day for Joy. Joy's a positive emotion, always upbeat and trying to make everyone around her as happy as she was. It was hard to be herself this time around. It mostly had to do with how much Sadness was being with Fear.

Just a month ago, those two emotions became really good friends. Fear didn't mind it when she turned negative or just acted like herself. Her other coworkers typically didn't know how to respond to her pessimism, it was hard to be around her because of her negativity. However, Fear listened to Sadness no matter what she had to say, and vise versa. That's how they got closer. Somehow, that bothered Joy. Why did that bother her though? Sadness is allowed to have friends, especially since she didn't have anyone close to her for the past eleven years. Was Joy being possessive? At least, Joy was still the one who knew Sadness the most, or that's what she told herself.

Sadness befriending Fear slightly annoyed Joy. It wasn't something terrible, it was just her gut instinct, and she knew eventually it would go away. She thought it was just something that she could shake off easily. However, Joy snapped when Sadness started to join Fear in dream duty (on one of the rare moments he was even assigned dream duty.) Joy thought it was "their" thing. They have been having dream duty together ever since they became friends. It was nice to have company, even if Sadness fell asleep on the couch half of the time. It was hard to tell if Sadness was having fun, she was hard to read. Yet, she has proven multiple times that she was happy in her own way when they were together. Why did she just want to restrict Sadness out of that just because she wasn't with her? To be honest, Joy had no idea.

To make it worse, just the other day, Joy noticed they were getting touchy. She couldn't tell if her it was her imagination but it was possible for reality. Sadness was an emotion that enjoys physical affection; she would always ask others before initiating anything, always being considerate of personal boundaries. It frustrated Joy when it wasn't focused on her.

Why did it bother her so much? It was just one of Sadness's jobs. Well, maybe calling it a "job" would be too rash. It wasn't her job but it was a simple act of kindness and comfort. Besides, what was Joy worried about? She doubted that the gesture would be seen as romantic by any means. And so what if it was? Joy was meant to be a happy emotion, always jolly for anyone's happiness. So, why did this make her feel bad? Was she just really overprotective of her friend or did she just want all of the attention to be on her? It was not healthy to bottle this up but that's precisely what she did. After all, she didn't want to worry her coworkers more than they already are. However, that was the only thing that she thought about all day today, nothing else was on her mind because it irritated her. It bugged at prodded her constantly.

Oh god…Was Joy jealous? She was definitely putting a lot of hate on Fear for the past couple of weeks (unintentionally, of course). But it was obvious that she wasn't herself today. Sadness gave her a lot of concerning glances here and there. The smaller emotion knew there was something bothering her. Joy tried to hide it, that didn't work at all, as proven before.

So, today was strange, even when Riley went to sleep. Joy ended the day with a positive note, and told them that that she will have dream duty tonight. She asked Sadness if she wanted to join her. Everything else about the end of the day was normal. Except Sadness refused Joy's offer and went straight to sleep. That has never happened before. Oh god, was Fear replacing her? At first, Joy was annoyed with Sadness but she tried to calm herself down. Maybe Sadness just needed some time alone, she was an introvert, after all…

Joy tried to look on the brighter side. At least she could be alone to her own thoughts. Maybe this was just a one time thing, maybe Sadness would just come back next time. It's healthy for everyone to have some time to themselves. She sat on the couch in Headquarters and tried her best to get comfortable. It actually felt strange to be alone during dream duty now. Sadness never talked much but Joy would always spark a conversation or comment on Riley's dream every once and a while. Some days, a conversation would spark that would last until they went to sleep and other days, they would sit in silence until one of them said "goodnight". She can't do that now, Sadness didn't join her today. Was it because of Joy's recent behavior? Was she being rude to her? Joy hoped she wasn't.

She watched for a good solid half an hour. It was gradually getting harder to stay awake in this solitude. She was about to fall asleep. "Joy…" Another small voice mumbled. Joy turned around in a flash, obviously startled. Sadness slowly waddled near the couch. "Oh. Sadness, what are you doing out this late?" Joy questioned.

"Oh, I don't know. I just thought something was wrong…Are you okay?" Sadness mumbled into her sweater. She was obviously concerned about this all day today, Joy felt bad that she didn't tell her. Sadness couldn't sleep knowing that one of the people she cares about is upset with her. Joy thought about it before giving her response, she was just trying to casually avoid the question all together. But Joy was upset with her and Fear for weeks on end, it was hard. "Oh, it's nothing," She started, it came out a little snootier than she wanted.

"Joy?"

"I'm not at _all_ bothered on how you and Fear have been acting around each other." Oh god…that came out all wrong. Maybe Joy was _a bit_ jealous on how much Fear has been hogging all of the attention recently. She did like it when Sadness held her hand or gave her attention. It was a warm fuzzy feeling, and when she felt like she was being replaced, that's when it all snapped. But Sadness was a person, and having to place this blame all on her felt dehumanizing.

"W-What are you talking about?" Sadness sounded beyond confused. She sat next to Joy on the couch, giving her a concerning glance. Joy growled out of slight frustration, she didn't know how else to describe it. "I know it sounds silly…" Her words faded before she could say anything else.

"Joy…Are you jealous?" Sadness mumbled, her face flushed the moment she said it. Joy felt embarrassed but she couldn't deny the truth. She was jealous. There was no doubt. "It's okay…I know why you might feel that way…It's sad. I've been leaving you alone a lot and I'm so sorry, Joy." It surprised Joy when she apologized. Sadness didn't need to. Sadness's life didn't revolve around Joy. Sadness started to sniffle, a sign that she was about to cry

"No, no, no. Sadness, don't apologize! It's…it's my fault. I just thought that you cared more about Fear than me for a second there. I was being silly." Joy blurted out; she tried her hardest to prevent Sadness from crying because it was almost impossible for her to stop. Joy wasn't the best at comforting, especially when it was Sadness. She brought Sadness into her arms. Sadness blushed slightly and somehow that embrace never ended, it just advanced into a cuddle. It was like one of those normal dream duty nights they spent together. Maybe a bit touchier than normal but both of them weren't complaining.

It might sound strange, but Joy loved the way Sadness smelled. The blue emotion smelled like the aftermath of rain, it was pleasant to be around. They grew more tired as the dream pressed on, Joy couldn't believe how much she liked being with Sadness. "You know, y-you don't have to worry. I won't replace you." Sadness stated so softly. She was so shy to say it. It was adorable, the blush on her cheeks intensified. Joy smiled, and the fuzzy feeling returned. She no longer felt as jealous as she did. Joy eventually apologized that night, she told herself that she would apologize to Fear tomorrow morning as well. And in minutes, they both fell asleep in each others arms.


End file.
